Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Wilson Barrels

I’m getting all the pieces together to build a 35 Whelen and found a pretty good price on a Wilson blank. I don’t hear much about them so I figured I would ask for opinions from folks who actually have used them.

I’ve got a Wilson on my AR it’s just as good as the other custom barrels I have..

Cooper has been using Wilson Barrels for long time, sense they moved i don't know it this is still true, I have 4 rifles with Wilson Barrels and I am very pleased all of them. Rio7

I only have 1 Wilson barrel and it's on a Winchester model 70. It shoots well enough:





No complaints about the Wilson barrel on this one.

bbassi;
Good morning to you, I hope that this last Saturday of August finds you well.

A friend of mine asked me to help him find a gunsmith in BC that would build a .350 Rem Mag for him.

After a couple calls I talked to Greg up at Corlane in Dawson Creek who had done several .350 Rem Mags including one for himself to carry while he was guiding up in the Prophet/Muskwa region. I'll note that family had used Corlane for rifle work previously and they have 5 gunsmiths in house. As far as I've heard they've got a reputation for doing good work.

He recommended a 1:12 twist SS Wilson, which he said they'd put onto all the other builds and had a good track record with the results.

Cutting to the chase, that's what they did for my friend's rifle and he's showed me a few very nice groups that it's shot.

Hopefully that was useful for you or someone out there.

All the best whichever way you decide on the build and good hunting this fall.

Dwayne

Of the 3 wilson barrels i have had all 3 were not good. Two of them were 9mm AR15 in 9MM. Both had defects in the steel. And both were taken back and the $ was refunded. The 3rd was a WOA ar15 spr barrel. There was extreme wear in the gas port at 26 or 27 rds. It would catch and strip a patch trying to clean the barrel. The first 10 shots on it went into a 0.25" group. Then thats when it kept getting larger till it was shooting 1.75" group at the 26rd that was shot. This was with a load they use to test their barrels. That was returned and $ was refunded as they were not too thrilled with having to make me a new barrel. So I felt it was best to just part ways with them.

I know they can be very accurate. A few places use them. But I think they are a little soft

I've had good and I've had bad Wilson barrels. I hate to say this but I've had the same exact experience with a gas port on a Wilson barrel. The manufacturer was great about replacing it and the new barrel shoots lights out and doesn't have that issue. My Armalite National Match came with a Wilson barrel and it shoots lights out.

I shoot NRA/CMP High Power with a few guys that prefer Wilson barrels. I wouldn't hesitate to use one on a hunting rifle.

I have used Wilson barrels for years. I never saw a bad one. I had one in 257 Roberts that was just unreal! It would shoot about any bullet (same loads) into one hole @ 100 yards.

My friend bore scoped a $60.00 clearance Wilson stainless barrel in 7mm; he said it was a finely finished inside as any Hart barrel he had seen. It shot very well. He made a 280 Ack Imp on it.

Many CMP /NRA Highpower competitors use Wilson barrels. The only hit on them is they do not last as long as Kreiger's or other top tier cut rifle barrels, but they figure they can buy and install four Wilsons cheaper than one Krieger for the same price and comparable wear.

I've got one on an AR I've had for about 15 years and it still shoots very well. I have another new 18" fluted rifle length gas Wilson for an AR but didn't look at it close when the package showed up. After several months I opened it and found it to be the heavier profile that I didn't want.

The one I thought I ordered was supposed to take a .750 gas block but this one needs a bigger one. It weighs about 40 ounces so it's not terribly heavy so maybe one day I'll put together an upper with it and see how it does. I love 18" rifle gassed ars for a good shooting gun but don't like them quite that heavy so I may just find it a new home.

There's a shop in Nevada that stocks several Wilson shorter blanks at decent prices and I too have thought about using one on a build.

Bb

I'm not sure if everyone here is on the same page.

There are Wilson Arms barrels (George Wilson) and Wilson Combat barrels (Bill Wilson). Two completely different companies.

Tony

I though that Wilson combat used Wilson blanks even though they are different companies. Maybe that's not true?

Bb

Bill Wilson told me they make their barrels/blanks in-house.

Tony

My #2 “ultralight sporter” 1:7 Wilson from ragged hole barrels shoots 88 ELDMs from my 22-250 into knots. Barrel was $195 as I recall. I’m very impressed.

Dave

Weren't the "bad" Ruger 77s of the 70s (or thereabouts) equipped with Wilson barrels?

I thought about buying a 416 from ragged and having it put on one of my fn commercial 98s chambered in 416 ruger and cut to about 20". I don't know who I'd have do it since my old neighbor Zollinger died. He used to do little jobs like that on Saturdays for us locals before he passed away. Probably be easier to find a ruger Alaskan though.

Bb

I've had (4) - still have (3) and all perform well - no issues at all

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^YEP^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Comparing Wilson barrels of the 70's to the current ones is sort of like comparing the product that American auto manufacturers were turning out in that time period to todays autos - completely different product.

Wilson barrels of the 70's had a different owner than the current owner. The current owner is Hugo Vivero who also owned Cooper arms until recently. They provide barrels to a lot of companies and like any manufacturer they will build to the specs provided. They provide a lot of AR barrels to different manufacturers.

Their lapped match grade barrels have worked well for me over the last 20 years.

drover